Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu lashed out at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday after authorities in Turkey sought Interpol arrest warrants targeting Netanyahu and dozens of other senior Israeli officials, sharply escalating the already bitter confrontation between Yerushalayim and Ankara.
The Prime Minister’s Office responded to the Turkish move with a blistering attack on Erdogan and his government.
“Erdogan is an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds, harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of journalists and politicians who oppose him. He now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Erdogan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere,” the statement stressed.
The Turkish request for the international warrants was filed in connection with criminal proceedings taking place in the absence of the Israeli defendants at Istanbul’s 11th High Criminal Court.
Reports indicated that the case stems from Israel’s interception of the “Global Sumud” flotilla, which attempted to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces stopped the vessels in international waters before they could reach Gaza. There has thus far been no indication that Interpol has approved Turkey’s request for warrants.
Relations between Israel and Turkey had appeared to be moving toward a diplomatic thaw in the period preceding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel. The relationship deteriorated dramatically following the attack and the ensuing war, with Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials repeatedly launching harsh attacks against Israel.
In March 2025, Erdogan branded Israel a “terror state” following Israeli preemptive strikes targeting terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. He subsequently accused Netanyahu’s government of being the greatest single threat to stability across the Middle East.
Erdogan stepped up his rhetoric again last week, charging that Israel was attempting to push the Palestinian Arab issue off the international agenda.
The latest dispute also comes amid growing tensions between Israel and Turkey over Syria. Earlier this week, Israel carried out a strike against the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria after Syrian authorities came close to violating a security understanding by permitting Turkish forces to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo.
Turkey rejected Israel’s justification for the strike and accused Yerushalayim of using security claims as a pretext for attacking Syrian territory.
Ankara also leveled broader accusations against Netanyahu, claiming that he was pursuing territorial expansion and fueling instability across the region for political reasons ahead of Israel’s elections.
The Turkish effort to secure international arrest warrants now adds another front to the increasingly hostile relationship, with Netanyahu making clear that Israel has no intention of being deterred by Erdogan’s move.
{Matzav.com}
